Parties and countries can call themselves and each other anything. North Korea is a Democratic People's Republic, if you believe the title.

It was the fad for a while for governments to call themselves socialist, because people were excited by the potentials of socialism. But the Nazi's, and for that matter the USSR's, socialism was about as true as N. Korea's democracy.

Arguing over that word is probably pointless, though. It's been poisoned, at least in the US. I'd like to see it reclaimed from both a linguistic and political perspective, but I think achieving a socialist society under a different name would be easier than reforming the word.

(30-07-2013 01:26 AM)undergroundp Wrote: "...calling it fascism and socialism"? Since when is socialism bad? Is this an American thing?

Yes. The cold war was waged against a supposedly socialist country. USSR called itself socialist so the party could claim their progressive aim was already achieved. USA called them socialist to discredit real socialism. Two superpowers agreed that poverty, oppression, militarism and tight central control was "socialism." The word is now essentially an insult in the US, totally divorced from the meaning for which it was coined.

(30-07-2013 01:22 AM)PoolBoyG Wrote: I'd just like to note here that this is a poor argument/concern. We have countries like India, or Saudi Arabia, in which millions of their people are literally living in the stone age, with society as a whole being extremely religious, and yet segments of the population have technologies (medical, scientific, military) which are as advanced as you can get- rivaling any other country in the world.

I'm only saying that technology wise, this isn't a concern. But what is a concern is that millions in poverty that I mentioned earlier.

I would suggest that it is inconsistent to be concerned about millions in poverty, but not be concerned about ensuring the future of science. Science has had and continues to have a major positive impact on human problems such as poverty.

True. Without science and people being continually educated generation after generation and building on the discoveries of previous scientists we would still be dying from smallpox and the black plague. Millions of lives have been made better through science and millions of lives have been saved. Without science we'd all be up shit creek.

We have a worldwide problem here, folks. And we are, BIG TIME!, in the minority! What we are dealing with (from a very basic standpoint) is the fear of death. Most people (including me) fear death. And all those people, who fear death, vote. And all those who need votes must respond to the fear of death. So, they have to suggest that death is not real. So, we have a world of people who are being oppressed. Often killed, because they are thinkers. What we need to do may seem simple, but it is far from simple! We have to make people accept death. Real, you're done! Your body will rot! No happy ending! Dead and gone! Death!

(31-07-2013 02:36 PM)PleaseJesus Wrote: Industries were nationalized, holidays and vacations paid from a national kitty, and etc. Socialism. Sorry.

We have a worldwide problem here, folks. And we are, BIG TIME!, in the minority! What we are dealing with (from a very basic standpoint) is the fear of death. Most people (including me) fear death. And all those people, who fear death, vote. And all those who need votes must respond to the fear of death. So, they have to suggest that death is not real. So, we have a world of people who are being oppressed. Often killed, because they are thinkers. What we need to do may seem simple, but it is far from simple! We have to make people accept death. Real, you're done! Your body will rot! No happy ending! Dead and gone! Death!

pleasejesus: Why do you even care about Socialism, when your god is doing such a poor job? He's had many years to fix this, and has failed! He's very concerned about whether I like to suck dick or lick pussy. He seems to watch what I watch. But he never helps! Never! When my brother was murdered, he wouldn't tell me who or why. When I was wiping my mom's ass, because she was near the end of her life and couldn't do it herself, he never said "Thanks!" "I didn't have time to deal with that!'

You can't explain any of your incredibly ignorant, foolish, even stupid ideas to anyone! Maybe you should back up. Dude! Maybe your ideas really are ridiculous!